Happy Monday, Total No folks! Technically, spring has sprung and winter is on its way out. (Not without a fight; in many places, it absolutely might snow in May, but at least the end is near.) And for many of us, that means the spring cleaning itch is also on its way. Open the windows! Air out the rooms! Get rid of the winter mud and dust! Buy new throw pillows! I need light and color and brightness!
Sure. Here’s a checklist for actual spring-cleaning, if you like that sort of thing, but that’s not the kind I’m interested in.
Spring is about hope and joy and renewal! It’s a great time of year to take inventory of yourself and your habits and make some changes. Here are some items on my feel-better spring checklist.
Check your screen time: You probably have a guess as to how much time you spend on your phone, but let’s get some data points. Use your phone’s Screen Time function to get the actual stats on overall usage and which apps are most used. If you’re horrified or even slightly not-okay with the number, let’s make a change! You set the time limits, and your phone will alert you when you’re nearing the time limit you’ve decided on.
Unfollow: Go through the accounts and people that you’re connected with on social media and decide if you want this connection at this point in time. Do you still want to follow this guy you went to college with and with whom you had a deep, deeply drunken conversation that one time? Do you still want to follow this self-appointed “fitness influencer” who makes you feel bad about yourself? Delete and unfollow as desired. Delete entire apps. I strongly encourage you to be ruthless in this process. Time scrolling on your phone is time that you’re not living your actual life.
Close the window: You get to decide what you’re exposed to and what’s influencing you. Yes, there is a 24-hour news cycle. No, you don’t need to watch it 24 hours a day. You don’t need to know about every horrible thing happening everywhere. Pick a short daily news digest email or podcast to keep you up to date on the big stuff and turn off the rest of the noise. You can close the window.
Clean your schedule: If you’re feeling low on time, see what you can change or take out of your schedule. It’s great that Gina is enjoying her comedy class, but you do not need to attend every open-mic night with her in order to be a supportive friend. Acknowledge that you don’t actually have time or inclination to chair yet another useless subcommittee at work and say no. Block off time in your schedule for lunch with a friend. Work will still be there when you return! Maybe there’s something you only do once every three months but it takes up a lot of your brain space; consider letting it go. If you hate barre class but don’t want to “abandon” your friend that goes every week, consider this permission to stop going. She’ll find someone else to go with, or not. She gets to decide what she’s doing and you get to decide what you’re doing. Propose going for a walk instead at another time and see what happens.
Closet inventory: Take all of your clothes out of your closet and dresser. Anything you find in this step that you know you don’t like, don’t fit in, and/or don’t wear goes straight in a donate/sell box. Anything with unfixable rips or stains goes in the garbage. With what you’ve got left, sort the clothes by type and then color: skirts with skirts, then all the black skirts together. If it turns out you have sixteen black skirts, see if some can go in the donate/sell box. Fix anything left with a rip or stain within a week, or throw it out. Even if you end up with not much left, now you know what you’ve got and if there’s anything else you need, you can go shopping for it. Put your clothes away and enjoy your new space and internal peace.
Leave work at work: When you’re not working, please be somewhere else, both physically and mentally. Delete the work email app off your phone, nightly if needed, for as long as you need to in order to set the habit of not checking it (warning: this may be forever). If you work from home, close the door to that space to indicate that you are not at work. If your work-from-home space doesn’t have a door, see if you can set up a room divider or other physical cue that you are done with work. Your brain needs a break, and it’s a good reminder that non-work time actually belongs to you to go live the rest of your life.
Now that you have all this new time and space, consider doing something to care for yourself and go enjoy your life.
Try something new: gather your courage and use some of your newfound time to try something new! Brush the winter cobwebs out of your brain by using different muscles and perspectives. Take a new route, cook something different, try a painting class, go dancing, explore a new neighborhood or town.
Eat good stuff: spring produce is gorgeous and delicious and fresh fruits and vegetables are wonderful. Enjoy the hell out of a box of sweet spring strawberries. Eat them all.
Get moving: the light is returning, very slowly. With all the time you’re saving by not letting your phone control you, try going outside for a walk. Even five minutes helps a lot with mental state.
Prioritize your time: How do you actually want to spend your time? Be honest here. Who are the people that you feel energized and happy with? Reach out to those people and spend some time with them. What do you love to do? Make time to do that.
Do what you can in the season you’re in, and this season is all about joy and renewal. Happy spring-ing!
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